Russia and the US are set to put the finishing touches to a new START Treaty within the next few weeks. An agreement to get the treaty signed at an early date was reached during a telephone conversation on Wednesday between Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama.
It looks like Russia and the US intend to clinch a new arms deal before an international nuclear conference in Washington in April, thereby setting a model to follow for countries possessing nuclear weapons or planning to join the nuclear club.
After the two parties got down to business with renewed vigor following New Year's last week, the negotiating process has been gathering pace. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made a statement to that effect after meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday.
Talks on strategic arms reduction treaty are coming to a close, he says. Negotiators in Geneva resume work next week and hopefully, will reach an accord on the rest of the outstanding points. Simultaneously, they'll be honing the articles they agreed on earlier.
With nearly 95% of the treaty ready, the main point of discussion is not where to put the full stop but how the ratification process will go ahead. Moscow insists on the ratification to take place in both countries simultaneously. President Medvedev warned against what frequently happened in the past, when the Soviet Union ratified the agreements and the US didn't. Russian and American MPs must approve the treaty at a time. Otherwise, there is no point in ratification at all.
US Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle assured Russian leaders that Washington thinks along the same lines. Hopefully, another round of START talks which gets underway in Geneva on Monday will become the last.
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